Verdict of the Ultimate Poo Critics: Food Selection and Preference in Native New Zealand Dung Beetles

Jamie Stavert*1, Jacqueline Beggs2, Anne Gaskett2

1 University of Auckland 2 University of Auckland

Worldwide, dung
beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) are one of the most
extensively researched groups of insects. Unique and diverse feeding habits
have been documented in dung beetle taxa across an array of ecosystems and this
is recurrently linked to a number of important ecological processes. Conversely,
New Zealand’s endemic dung beetle fauna is poorly understood, even though these
beetles habitually fill entomologists’ pitfall traps. The feeding ecology of
New Zealand dung beetles is intriguing given the near absence of land mammals
in New Zealand’s evolutionary history and the importance of mammal dung for
most dung beetles elsewhere. It has been hypothesised that New Zealand species
use a range of non-mammalian dung resources, and default to saprophagy,
although this remains unproven.
My research is
focused on the feeding ecology of three North Island dung beetle species and
seeks to determine their food preference, feeding rate and trophic position. To
date I have found that endemic dung beetles vary substantially in food
preference across different taxa. One species displays a generalist response to
different dung types while the other two species are either highly specific or do
not remove dung at all. Further research will expand on our current understanding
of feeding behaviour and will investigate factors involved in food selection
processes.